Our Second Cypriot Wedding...

Our neighbours Gregoris and Theodora were coming today so this morning John wanted to get their sand filter cleared so that the old sand could be replaced with the new sand that Gregoris was bringing.  John now thinks he could get a job in animal husbandry based on his experience of being up to his armpit in a confined space fishing around in sh*t!  Whilst he was doing this, and when he wasn't shouting for me, I took it upon myself to tidy my shed - my new mop bucket deserves a nice home after all!  John had done some sorting in there last weekend so it wasn't too big a job and I was ably helped by Chivers who was poking his nose in and around everything and then very proudly brought me a baby shrew which he quickly ran off with and tormented to its death.  I hate it when he does that because I like the shrews - now if it has been a rat or snake that would have been a different matter!

For once our estate is a hive of activity as most of the Nicosian owners are here.  Charalambous and Galadia have pitched up with a boat - this is very exciting - apparently they have been doing their skippering exams and will be keeping it at Latchi - we are hopeful that if we are good we might get an invite having enjoyed the trip we had out the other weekend with Kaye and Co.

We called it a day and then had a long old conflab on what we were going to wear to the wedding reception we had been invited to.  Based on our previous experience of a Cypriot wedding we opted not to go to the church.  Last time it was packed but just about everyone there was doing something other than paying attention to the service!  This was then followed by the feeding of the five thousand - literally!!  and this took place at a purpose built reception venue called the Monte Lisa in Paphos.

Today's wedding was going to be a very different affair.  Sofoklis' daughter Niki had come over from America with her Nigerian fiance Laurence.  The ceremony was being followed by a champagne reception at the Coral Beach Hotel and then a small family meal afterwards.  We had been invited to the champagne reception which was being held on a terrace looking out to sea.  There were actually two weddings going on but the venue is big enough to accommodate both without one being aware of the other.  The setting was perfect and very stylish.

It seems quite random to us to be invited to a wedding where the bride and groom haven't a clue who you are but this is very normal over here.  John was determined to go because Sofoklis had invited us and reminded us the last twice we saw him.  As we joined the queue of people to give our congratulations (not forgetting our envelope of money) to the happy couple and their families Sofoklis was delighted to see us and I even managed to greet him and his wife in Greek which tickled him even more.  It was a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon/evening - sipping champagne and nibbling on cypriot style canapes - or in my case sipping orange juice as I was the designated driver for the evening.  John got stuck into the mini halloumi pittas and souvlakia but gave the mushroom koupies a stiff ignoring and the little bits of bread with parma ham and exotic fruit kept jumping onto my plate.

Sofoklis came and had a chat with us - more concerned as to whether or not John had put up the extra metal brackets on the car port than anything else!  His daughter looked beautiful and he was understandably proud of her.

We said our goodbye's just before the private party was about to take place and I gratefully removed my heels and slipped on my flip flops that I had had the foresight to put in my handbag before we left.  As we drove back to Droushia we went through the Kathikas rolling mist/fog which is still very much in evidence even in late June!

Wired from a big night out we decided to stop in the village for a drink before going home - it seemed a pity not to make the most of our gladrags!!